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When the new Residence Management System in Japan went into effect last July, the Immigration bureau began issuing resident cards to foreigners but they didn’t require foreigners to immediately obtain them. The old alien card can be used as a valid substitute for a certain period of time. For most foreigners, that would be until their visa (period of stay) expires.

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An exhibit of some sort caught my attention as I passed through the Shin-Maru Building on my way home from work the other day. I decided to look closer and found out that it was an exhibition of children’s enikki or illustrated diaries. What’s more interesting is that it featured works of children from Asian countries including the Philippines.

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Our Filipino community here in Tokyo used to hold bowling tournaments at Ikebukuro Hata Bowling Center so it was a little bit sad to hear that it closed last April 20 after 48 years of operation. I wonder if the recent earthquake had something to do with its closing.

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As Filipinos living in Japan, one thing that we really miss from home is eating unripe mangoes. The mangoes that are available in Japan are imported from other countries and most, if not all, are already ripe. There's nothing really wrong with ripe mangoes but for many Filipinos nothing beats the taste of sour, crunchy, mouth-watering green mangoes. So when Cerg happened to find some green mangoes in a nearby supermarket, she bought them all! (Only two mangoes were left so she took those two.)

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It's been a long time since we last bought a CD album. With the availability of online music stores that sell by the song, we can select and buy only the songs that we really want, leaving out those that we don't. But with the new album of Charice, there's nothing you would really want left out!

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A few weeks ago, Cerg and I happened to watch the initial episode of the TV comedy-drama series Nihonjin no shiranai nihongo, translated in English as "The Japanese Language Unknown to Even the Japanese". Many foreigners living in Japan will surely be able to relate to this drama series.

The drama depicts the experience of Haruko, a former "charisma" shop assistant who is looking for a teaching position at a regular high school. Haruko's former teacher who is temporarily admitted in a hospital promised to introduce Haruko such a position on the condition that Haruko would first handle a class for her for three months while she is still in the hospital. Haruko accepted the deal not knowing that the class consisted of foreign students.

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Yesterday, it was again my turn to lead our Department Chorei. In case you didn't know, chorei is the Japanese term for the morning assembly or ceremony that is popular among many Japanese companies.

Basically, chorei is like the flag ceremony in Philippine elementary schools. There is, however, no flag (and flag-raising, of course), no singing of the national anthem, and no reciting of panatang makabayan. These are replaced instead by the reciting of the company vision and mission, attendance checking, and countless bowing.